Governor of Texas going ahead with relaxing lockdown measures but was caught on mic admitting it will spread coronavirus

Leaked audio has captured the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, conceding that overwhelming scientific evidence is that reopening businesses will increase the spread of coronavirus – even as he himself authorises a phased relaxation of his state’s lockdown measures.
The audio was released as Texas’s Covid-19 death count approached 1,000, with some counties reporting their highest daily numbers of new cases so far.

On the conference call with state legislators, Mr Abbott made no bones about the implications of allowing businesses to resume operations. “How do we know reopening businesses won’t result in faster spread of more cases of Covid-19?




“Listen, the fact of the matter is pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening – whether you want to call it a reopening of business, or just a reopening of society – in the aftermath of something like this, that it actually will lead to an increase in spread.

“So it’s almost ipso facto, the more that you have people out there, the greater possibility there is for transmission.”

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Texas’s reopening schedule is soon to begin. Hair and nail salons will be able to reopen on Friday, earlier than originally planned; the announcement came shortly after two Republican lawmakers staged a protest against the lockdown by getting illegal haircuts.

Mr Abbott is not alone in his acknowledgement that lifting the lockdown will spread the virus. His immediate deputy, lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, has said that older Americans should accept the risk of dying from the virus to allow business to continue. His rationale is that saving America’s economy should be top priority. As he put it, “there are more important things than living”.
Texas is one of several states allowing certain businesses to reopen, many of them against public health advice from experts including those on the president’s own task force. Among them is Florida, where governor Rick DeSantis was originally criticised for his slow response to the virus’s spread.

Ben Reilly wrote:

Leaked audio has captured the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, conceding that overwhelming scientific evidence is that reopening businesses will increase the spread of coronavirus – even as he himself authorises a phased relaxation of his state’s lockdown measures.
The audio was released as Texas’s Covid-19 death count approached 1,000, with some counties reporting their highest daily numbers of new cases so far.

On the conference call with state legislators, Mr Abbott made no bones about the implications of allowing businesses to resume operations. “How do we know reopening businesses won’t result in faster spread of more cases of Covid-19?




“Listen, the fact of the matter is pretty much every scientific and medical report shows that whenever you have a reopening – whether you want to call it a reopening of business, or just a reopening of society – in the aftermath of something like this, that it actually will lead to an increase in spread.

“So it’s almost ipso facto, the more that you have people out there, the greater possibility there is for transmission.”

Read more

• 
  Tracking the coronavirus outbreak around the world in maps and charts
  
  
• 
  When can we really expect coronavirus to end?
  
  
• 
  Everything you need to know on supermarket delivery slots
  
  
• 
  The dirty truth about washing your hands
  
  
• 
  Listen to the latest episode of The Independent Coronavirus Podcast
  
  

Texas’s reopening schedule is soon to begin. Hair and nail salons will be able to reopen on Friday, earlier than originally planned; the announcement came shortly after two Republican lawmakers staged a protest against the lockdown by getting illegal haircuts.

Mr Abbott is not alone in his acknowledgement that lifting the lockdown will spread the virus. His immediate deputy, lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, has said that older Americans should accept the risk of dying from the virus to allow business to continue. His rationale is that saving America’s economy should be top priority. As he put it, “there are more important things than living”.
Texas is one of several states allowing certain businesses to reopen, many of them against public health advice from experts including those on the president’s own task force. Among them is Florida, where governor Rick DeSantis was originally criticised for his slow response to the virus’s spread.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/texas-governor-greg-abbott-coronavirus-reopening-spread-a9501891.html?fbclid=IwAR1a8cAE0kOUiVbYRMjVrPnAHMbeGF-0LEXQTMuf1R_Vi7LoU8eOOW22qKg


The simple truth is that he and other Republicans like him care more about the economy than they do about the well-being of the people. It's shameful.

Maddog wrote:Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner and U.S. Medicaid and Medicare Administrator